Twenty Four Years Old

Who?

Me?

Couldn't be!

Yesterday I celebrated 24 years of life and I praise God for it!!! Dad reminded me that I'm almost a quarter of century. :) I have been blessed beyond measure and I have so so much to be thankful for!

Tony gave me a dozen each of homemade roses & violets - many of them bearing a special little handwritten message. ;) Earlier in the week he also got me some Fit Flops!

Tony spent most of the afternoon studying for a test, while I divided my time amongst cleaning, crocheting, and a sugar foot scrub. :) Early evening we stopped by Tony's parents house. Unfortunately, Tony's mom had already left for church, but she left my gift on the table. She found the cutest frog card with some cash enclosed and a cranberry scented diffuser (which has already made itself at home in our bedroom)!

We then went to my parents house for a little family celebration. Per my request, mom fixed breaded steak with mashed potatoes, corn, and biscuits. All very yummy!

Before dinner, Brittany gave me a "pre-present" - the felt circles that I had spent hours preparing for our ZONK game. I had let Brittany use them for school a year ago and we thought they were gone forever. But as she was cleaning her room recently she found them. :) This led to another "pre-present" from Joey. A small bag of dog food. "Huh?" Tony & I are not big pet people - at least not in this season of our life. My family knows this too. So I really thought they were joking at first. They kept going on and on about the animal that Joey has hiding in his room. He had bought it the day before. "It don't eat much. It won't be to expensive to feed. Pedro, my parents dog, didn't really like him." I was beginning to get worried. What if he really did get us a pet??? Joey decided to go ahead and give me our new pet. I nervously faced the wall in the living room, while Joey brought out my gift. :) What a relief it was to find this AWESOME metal elephant - who eats nothing. Haha!!

After dinner and kitchen clean-up, I opened the rest of my gifts. :) I recieved a beautiful framed saying & a sweet, sweet card from Chrissie. :)

My parents got me some much desired Croc canvas shoes, a couple shirts, a pack of smarties candy [from dad], and UNO Attack!! I'm sure this new member of the family - UNO - will be making many appearances at our family get togethers. Haha.

Brittany had bought my present several weeks before and has been anxiously waiting to give it to me. Usually she can't wait and she'll give it to me early. ;) She got me a snazzy purple jacket with a contrasting thermal to go underneath! So pretty!

Matthew got me a lovely Tazo tea set in a nice bamboo box. :) It will make 30 cups of yummy tea - one of which I'm enjoying right now as I write this post.

After gifts, Matthew made his last pot of Jamaican Blue Coffee and graciously shared it with everyone. We played a couple rounds of UNO Attack and ate some yummy cake made by Mommy! :) Isn't it so pretty???